May 2012World Premiere!
EgglestonWorks Isabel Signature SpeakerAble to reproduce sound with a realism that, at times, is downright scary!
Review By Tom Lyle

I'm usually
not one to covet a pair of loudspeakers I've never heard simply for the fact
that someone else uses them. However, when reading that record mastering legend
Bob Ludwig uses a pair of EgglestonWorks speakers in his mastering suite, that's
all it took. Sure, not only does Mr. Ludwig's listening room and ancillary gear
– which includes a pair of top-of-the-line EgglestonWorks monitors – put his
system in a sonic universe that does not approach anything close to my current
reality, I still thought if I could audition a pair of EgglestonWorks speakers I
could experience a hint of what this expert was hearing. After spending quite a
while with the two-way floorstanding Isabel Signature I still might not have an
idea what Bob Ludwig hears in his studio, but I have at least a pretty good idea
of why he chose EgglestonWorks speakers to occupy his studio.

The Isabel Signature is newest speaker in the
EgglestonWorks line. EgglestonWorks claims that rather than relying on
measurements and computer models, they put as much or more emphasis on listening
tests to design and voice their speakers. According to EgglestonWorks,
understanding how sound is created by live musical instruments can be used as a
tool in the critical stages of loudspeaker design. They go on to say that
building a speaker takes more than just creating one that only does full justice
to parameters such as imaging, soundstage, separation and definition. These are
just secondary issues that are derived from the ability to "precisely capture
the basic elements of music: timbre, intensity, and pitch." Their approach to
loudspeaker manufacturing has obviously proved successful as their humming
factory complex located right outside of Memphis that has been operating for two
generations will attest.

The great-looking Isabel Signature is
EgglestonWorks smallest floor-standing speaker. It is very modern looking, most
likely because it eschews the wood grain or piano black finish that is so
prevalent in other floor-standing speakers. I guess if one wants a speaker to "blend
in" with the surrounding décor, wood grain would be a good option. But the
glossy gray finish of the Isabel Signature gives it a stateliness that is
missing from many other manufacture's models. The EgglestonWorks applies a
finish on their speakers that I was told uses almost the same process as in the
automotive industry in that it uses paint and clear coat. Where it differs is
that there are different preparation stages since they are not painting metal.
The first step is a very time consuming application of laminate over the entire
surface of the speaker. After that the seams are addressed with a fiberglass
resin material, the resin is sanded smooth, and then the speaker is sprayed with
polyester that they say helps prevent any movement of the outer surface. From
there the process is almost identical to painting a car – primer coat,
sanding, two color coats, three clear coats, wet sanding, and then polishing. In
my opinion paying so much attention to the finish really pays off.

Not surprisingly, what is under this finish is
more important. The cabinet of the Isabel Signature is constructed from two
sheets of 0.625" Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) that are laminated together
making a total thickness of 1.25". EgglestonWorks uses two sheets rather than
the standard one layer of MDF is because MDF naturally varies in density due to
the manufacture process. A cross-section of MDF will show denser material on the
surfaces and less density in its middle sections, and is one of the reasons why
MDF is a good material for speaker cabinets because this variation in density
naturally helps to deaden resonances. But by using two sheets of MDF
EgglestonWorks increases the natural effect by doubling the denser outside, the
less dense inside, and then adding the lamination layer.

The Isabel Signature uses two drivers in the
upper portion of its cabinet – a one-inch dome tweeter that was custom built
to their specifications from Dynaudio, which starts out as an Esotar model. The
carbon-fiber midrange/bass driver is again, made to EgglestonWorks
specifications, but sourced from Morel. EgglestonWorks claims that the crossover
of the Isabel Signature is rather simple: It is a 2nd order design
with the tweeter crossed-over at 2500 Hz. All of this company's crossovers are
point-to-point wired in-house. As you will read in my description of the sound
of the Isabel Signature, there is quite a bit of quality bass coming from its
relatively small mid/bass driver. To accomplish this, the Isabel Signature uses
a variation of a bass reflex design. The rear ports are located internally. The
tweeter is in its own compartment which is basically the angled section at the
top. The six-inch mid/bass driver is in compartment from the tweeter shelf at
the top to another horizontal shelf that is between the two rear ports to create
two compartments that are connected with a vertical port internally.
EgglestonWorks says that the size of the box obviously helps with bass response,
but in testing it seemed that they were not getting the transient response they
were looking for. So, by adding the shelf and splitting the ports they were able
to control the bass response and have something that sounded more real and not
subject to dreaded one-note response. They were successful.

Arrived

The Isabel Signatures arrived in two large boxes attached
to a large wooden pallet. I was lucky enough that the weather outside was
pleasant enough that I could remove the speakers from their boxes and bring them
into the listening room before moving the oversized box/pallet assembly down to
the basement for storage. The Isabel Signatures were super-easy to set up.
EgglestonWorks states in their manual that because of their "unique design"
their speakers are typically placed much closer to the walls of the room than
most other speaker systems. That is lucky for me, because in the system that I
auditioned the Isabel Signatures is in a common space on the first floor of our
home, and I have a few less positioning options than might have been ideal. I
didn't experiment too much with positioning, mostly trying different degrees of
toe-in versus having the speakers fire straight into the room. In the end, I
really didn't like what the toe-in accomplished, the imaging was more than fine
even with the speakers firing straight ahead into the room, and this way they
were able to take full advantage of their wide soundstaging abilities. The
speakers took quite a while to break in. This isn't the first time I've reviewed
speakers that took a long period of time to break in, and as with those, after
more than a month in my system I still feel that each day I listen to them they
are still making incremental improvements in sound. In the case of the Isabel
Signatures, it seems as if the bass is getting even deeper, and the soundstage
is opening up just a smidgen more with every play.

I like to call the system in which I auditioned
the Isabel Signatures my "second system", only because I call the other my "main"
system, where not only the music server is located, but in the same room in
which I store my physical media collection. The system in which the
EgglestonWorks speakers were used relies on this music server as the source of
its main diet of music as FLAC files fed through the home network. There is also
an Oppo BDP-83 Special Edition universal player for SACDs (and the occasional
CD), but usually I listen via a Logitech Squeezebox Touch connected to either a
Benchmark digital-to-analog converter or a CEntrance DACmini DAC. The
preamplifier is a tubed Balanced Audio Technologies (BAT) VK-3iX or an Edge G2
linestage. Power is from a pair of tubed PrimaLuna DiaLogue 6 monoblock amps,
and everything but the amps (and of course the speakers) sit atop Metro
Commercial shelving. The entire speaker, interconnect, power, and digital
cabling is by DH Labs, and every power cord in the system is connected to a
Panamax M5510-Pro power conditioner. This room is in a house built in 1894 with
plaster walls and a wood floor so solid that I could jump a few feet in the air
in front of the system, and not a single component would move.

Obvious

Despite the fact that it was pretty obvious that the
Isabel Signatures needed quite a while before they sounded their best, even
right out of the box they were mighty impressive sounding. This was not only
because of their deep bass response, but their transparent midrange, sparkling
and natural treble, pin-point imaging, and huge soundstage. As I write this I'd
consider them about 95% broken in, and every time I sit down with in front of
them it is an absolute pleasure. But to be honest, I was a bit skeptical because
they are, after all, relatively small floor-standing speakers, and even if one
considers them having a full-sized cabinet the mid/bass driver is only
six-inches in diameter. I've heard other speakers using small drivers in a large
cabinet, and ultimately the deep bass that comes forth out of the speakers isn't
really deep bass, it is a strong mid-bass. But the Isabel Signatures
are specified to go down to 39 Hz (+/- 3dB) and not only did I hear plenty of
good quality bass in this range, I would say that EgglestonWorks has been rather
conservative with their measurements. I know it is easy to be fooled into
thinking one is hearing some good deep bass if there is a strong mid-bass
present with decent transient response, but I like to think that I've heard
enough speakers (and many with much larger cabinets and drivers than these) and
know what deep bass sounds like. The bass that the Isabel Signature produces is
not an illusion.

It is really quite spectacular really, when you
think of it: Here is a speaker using conventional drivers, and small ones at
that, in a cabinet with such a small footprint that it doesn't take up much more
room than many stand-mounted speakers, reproducing instruments in such a natural
way that the suspension of disbelief was such a regular occurrence that I
sometimes took it for granted.

Recently I received as a gift a Japanese
single-layer SACD of the Rolling Stones Beggars
Banquet. Yes, as I've always considered the ABKCO release on
dual-layer SACD/CD the "definitive" version of this album I was taken aback when
I spun this disc for the first time. Whether it is a different tape that was
used as a source, or just the time and care that the Japanese put into this
release, I don't think these reasons alone could fully explain why the Japanese
version is preferable. I also don't think that either of these could objectively
be called better than the other. But there is no doubt in my mind that I
sometimes feel that the bass of the Japanese SACD seems more clean and powerful,
and the instruments that contain a healthy amount of mid and treble that were
recorded by simply placing a microphone in front of them (including the vocals)
sometimes seem more natural sounding, that is, less processed. And there is no
question that both versions of this album revealed some major positive traits of
these speakers. Even though there is much song-to-song sound quality variation
throughout the album (some of the tracks were recorded on a portable cassette
recorder) there are often times when there are no electric instruments other
than bass.

The separation of sounds and instruments through
the Isabel Signatures is fantastic. "Street Fighting Man", which has tracks that
Keith Richards confirmed were originally recorded on cassette, along with many
overdubs recorded throughout their time in the studio, comes off as the best
I've ever heard it. On this very dense track are vocals by both Mick Jagger and
Keef, Brian Jones playing sitar and tamboura (another sitar-like instrument),
Charlie Watt's drum kit, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and Dave Mason on an Indian
wind called a Shenhai. Back in the day it was tough to hear what was going on
instrumentally, but these days we've finally been able to separate all the
commotion. But the Isabel Signature takes things one step further by not only
putting a human touch on each and every instrument by revealing the original
intentions of the artists, as well as being able to separate all the instruments
and place them perfectly within the huge soundstage. And on songs such as "Prodigal
Son" we're privileged to hear the band as if they are in the same room with each
other, with their acoustic guitars along with a simple drum kit while they are
singing along. And through the Isabel Signatures it seems as if one not only can
imagine through one's mind's ear the actual instruments and voices perhaps not
in the room with you, but being able to peer into the recording session, and if
I closed my eyes while playing this and let myself be totally enveloped by the
music (which the Isabel Signature made quite easy) I swore I could smell the
remnants of the cigarettes and wine that were consumed that night.

Ditto for Berlioz's Symphonie
fantastique, although with this piece what I think I smelled was
absinthe. My favorite versions of this work are many, although those on LP tend
to be from the golden era of stereo from the late 1950s through the early 1960s
(think Munch with the Boston, and Monteux with the Vienna), but digital
favorites are many and fall within the last two decades, most notably Pierre
Boulez' account with the Cleveland Orchestra on DG from 1997. Here he makes a
case for the score that is surprising for a conductor who once proclaimed in his
youth that Nineteenth Century music was not to his liking, to put it mildly. As
his conducting career matured so did his taste in music, and here, as in many
readings he did for this label around the same time his attention to detail is
second to none. At the same time somehow he seems to extract the inner substance
of the composition, and ends up with a near flawless account from the musicians
under his control. Of course the high drama comes during the last two movements
of this five movement work, so here we get to experience the EgglestonWorks
Isabel Signature's way with reproducing a concert bass drum, which again,
considering the size of the drivers and the cabinet in which they are contained
is very impressive. I was able to not only hear the lowest fundamentals of the
drum, but during these movements the right side of the orchestra is running on
all cylinders, of course this includes the double basses. Impressive enough is
that the speakers were able to reproduce the low-end so faithfully, but the
transient response of the both the drum and the bass fiddles were able to be
discerned as separate events in a separate space. I don't mean I was able to
localize the bass drum via its low pitch (as the lowest frequencies are
non-directional) but by the upper pitches contained within the sounds of these
instruments – the sound of the bows on the strings, and the skin of the bass
drum were clearly heard above the din.

The Isabel Signatures proved again and again that they were
able to reproduce these sounds with a realism that at times was downright scary.
Needless to say, this piece is largely made of more than the deathly scenes
during the climatic finale, and the Isabel Signature was able to take advantage
of its midrange purity by reproducing the throng of strings and other sections
of the orchestra with all that one could want from a speaker, as the torrent of
sound that enveloped me during throughout the score. This piece is made with a
huge orchestra, with the usual strings and two harps, winds (including flutes
piccolo, oboes, clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bassoons), brass (horns, trumpets,
cornets, trombones, and tubas), and a battery of percussion instruments
(timpani, snare, cymbals, bass drum, and bells). Whew. I would close my eyes,
and when I opened them the locations of the speakers were never where I thought
they would be and their physical dimensions much smaller than the enormous
soundstage.

I mentioned that I was often impressed by the transient
response of the Isabel Signatures in certain areas. I called it decent, not
first-rate. I think that this might be the only fault I could find with these
otherwise magnificent speakers, as slight as this fault might be. There was a
bit thickening of the midbass that occurred on some recordings that presented
itself on program material with a great deal of energy in this zone. I was able
to lessen this effect by using the solid-state Edge G2 linestage in place of the
tubed BAT preamplifier, although I did not try the Isabel Signature with a
solid-state power amp. Perhaps if I was able to pull the speakers farther out
into the room away from the front wall this very slight thickening would be
alleviated. Plus, this slight imperfection was probably more noticeable to me
because the last speakers that occupied this system were 2.5 times more
expensive stand-mounted two-way speakers that really didn't have any bass
response to speak of, yet the rest of their frequency spectrum was reproduced
with a proficiency that was second-to-none.

Perfect

Are the EgglestonWorks Isabel Signatures a perfect
loudspeaker? Anyone reading this magazine should know that there is no such
thing as a perfect loudspeaker, that is, unless one hires musicians to perform
in their room… or somehow invents a time machine and some sort of physical
transporter to relocate the musicians, the recording studio and its staff to one's
home. The "perfect loudspeaker" just doesn't exist. But one might find a
loudspeaker that it fits one's own listening room perfectly, associated gear
perfectly and one's budget perfectly. And the EgglestonWorks Isabel Signature
might just be that loudspeaker.

Would I consider purchasing the EgglestonWorks Isabel
Signature if I were shopping for a small floorstanding speaker within this price
range? You bet. It matched my associated gear and my room just fine, thank you
very much. But the EgglestonWorks Isabel Signature is not inexpensive. They also
occupy a price point that sometimes gets short shrift. Speakers priced a few
thousand dollars below these or a few thousand dollars more get greater
attention from the speaker buying public. But anyone shopping for a speaker who
doesn't put the Isabel Signature on their audition list is missing out on some
great, great speakers. Recommended.